


The Lost Children

by idrilhadhafang



Series: Stormtrooper Rey [1]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, M/M, Stormtrooper Rey, category may change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:13:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: What if Rey were trained as a stormtrooper alongside Finn, and had to flee with him for the same reasons he did?





	The Lost Children

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.

 The mission to Jakku is RE-2181’s first mission, and she has to admit that she doesn’t know what to expect. It’s not like she’s ever been on a mission before — all of it’s been training. Learning how to use melee weapons, for example, and learning how to shoot. 

This is actually the first opportunity she has to actually test her skills against an enemy. 

She stands next to FN-2187, her friend, and Slip, a stormtrooper that FN-2187 and she have befriended and looked after. Stars willing Slip needs it. It’s Phasma who stands before them all, all chrome armor and poise.

”The mission to Jakku is pivotal,” she says. “We cannot afford to lose the map to Skywalker. To lose the map is to lose a critical chance to eliminate the corruption that Skywalker represents. The disorder. We march to Jakku today, and may we of the First Order acquire our victory swiftly. All villagers there are collaborators with the Resistance, whether purposely or no, and they will be dealt with accordingly.”

The stormtroopers salute. It’s a gesture that makes RE-2181 uneasy for reasons she can’t quite put her finger on. She stands next to FN-2187, and Slip. FN-2187 turns to look at her. His expression is unreadable to outsiders, but RE-2181 can read it all too well. If Slip can pick up on it, he doesn’t say anything. 

***

The mission to Jakku is pure chaos. When RE-2181 exits the shuttle, she can’t help but be struck by the smell of burning village. If not for the filtering system of the stormtrooper mask she’s wearing, she’d honestly choke on the smell of smoke and ash. It’s wrong. Captain Phasma said that every villager at Tuanul is good as a collaborator, good as complicit with the Resistance, but at the same time — it’s wrong. It’s completely wrong. There’s something about seeing the villagers running away, screaming, crawling backwards to get away from the stormtroopers that chills RE-2181 to the bone. 

This wasn’t what they expected to find. 

RE-2181 can’t bring herself to pull the trigger. 

It’s when a blaster bolt comes out of nowhere and catches Slip that RE-2181 runs to him along with FN-2187. RE-2181 rummages around in her kit for anything that can be of use — by the time that she finds the life support pack, Slip’s reached out towards her, staining her white helmet with red. 

RE-2181 turns around. She’s no longer conflicted. She has a target. And she’s bent on killing. 

The man who fired the shot that killed Slip is dark-haired, with olive, smooth skin. He’s beautiful, but RE-2181 knows full well that looks can be deceiving. She aims her blaster at him, is about to fire...

Something about the look in his eyes stops her. That look of utter shock and pity, like he hadn’t, truly, expected that to happen. 

Of course people think that stormtroopers are mindless killing machines. Of course they think they can’t feel, have companionships, anything like that. Of course. 

Still, RE-2181 lowers her blaster, slightly. Slightly. It’s trembling in her hand. She needs to kill this man...and yet she can’t. 

She’s snapped out of her reverie, her conflict, by the whoosh of a shuttle overhead. She hears it more than she feels or sees it. She looks up — she knows that shuttle. Has heard of it, at least. 

That’s Kylo Ren’s shuttle. 

She and FN-2187 move out of the way in time, and she looks up at the way the shuttle swoops over the battlefield like a bird of prey. She can’t help but feel a certain sort of awe; she’s heard stories about Kylo Ren, and the Knights of Ren. 

Even as the shuttle lands and Kylo disembarks, RE-2181 can’t help but think that his reputation really does precede him. The Jedi Killer. The Butcher. Other stormtroopers escort an old man towards him, none too gently, and Ren advances towards him. 

Ren speaks, and it sounds almost like something out of a nightmare. What he’s saying is almost a childish taunt, and Lor San Tekka’s retort is no better, but it does nothing to alleviate the feeling in RE-2181 like her skin’s broken out in gooseflesh. 

Tekka tries to appeal to who Ren was before, if there was a “before”. It only makes Ren angry. “I’ll show you,” he says, angrily advancing on Tekka, “The Dark Side.”

“You may try,” Tekka says, “But you cannot deny the truth that is your family.”

 Family. Was Ren taken from his too? Despite herself, RE-2181 can’t help but wonder about the Knight of Ren. 

“You’re so right,” Ren says, almost wryly, before igniting his lightsaber. 

RE-2181 can’t help but watch in horror. That old man...that old man was trying to help him, somehow, though he had no reason to do so. Why would Ren just kill him? RE-2181 doubts she can understand it. 

It’s then that the younger man, the man who killed Slip, fires at Ren. RE-2181 can’t help but feel some satisfaction when his blaster bolt is frozen in midair, when he’s taken roughly before Ren and forced to kneel. 

He deserves it, she thinks. She may not have killed him, but it doesn’t mean that she has to like him. 

The people at the village don’t deserve it. But this man does. 

The man talks back to Ren. It’s reassuring, in a way, to know that he has no shame. He’s not only a murderer, but an idiot. Good to know. 

Ren doesn’t rise to the bait, of course. He orders the stormtroopers in charge of the man to search him, and when nothing’s found, to put him on board. 

When Phasma asks what to do with the villagers, it’s there that Ren orders them killed. Phasma speaks. “On my command...fire!”

It isn’t the pleading from the man as he’s dragged off to the shuttle that gets RE-2181 to lower her blaster. It’s the fact that she can’t go through with the killing. It’s the fact that killing these villagers is wrong. 

Next to her, FN-2187 lowers his blaster. They both can’t do it. They’re not civilian killers. Perhaps that makes them bad stormtroopers. 

Let them be that then. 

Kylo Ren passes them in that moment, and it’s then that he looks at them both. Really looks at them. RE-2181 can feel like he’s actually analyzing her, questioning...before he passes, like a storm, leaving her and FN-2187 at the battlefield. 

Even as they board the shuttle, RE-2181 can’t help but think of how kriffing close that had been. She can only hope that it doesn’t happen again — assuming that there is a next time. 


End file.
